14 Comments
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David Dusing's avatar

This one would be really funny if it didn't hit so close to home. Laughed the whole way through, but points are spot on.

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Tony's avatar

You forgot about the whole mix of fonts (types and sizes) to ensure the outcome truly resembles a ransom note + sentences that span at least 2 pages each.

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Walt Shill's avatar

"resembles a ransom note" Perfect !!

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Suraj Mansukhani's avatar

Love it!

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Bryan's avatar

I personally wouldn't miss any opportunity to put "skin in the game".. sounds gross but love to say it.. I reckon clients really appreciate when we guess at what extra they may want... who knows!?!?.. I've never asked.

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Walt Shill's avatar

Bryan - great addition - and I agree stuffing unwanted services in the proposal is a great way to make a bad proposal worse! Thanks !

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Jaimy Chadam's avatar

This is really helpful Walt...you are still teaching! Do you recommend an explicit page of "Why We Love Us and You Should Too" page? Or can that be implied in "elements" 1-4? Just wondering if there's some power in making it super clear...that we love us.

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Pranav Sinha's avatar

Loved this Walt! I see glimpses of so many chases we have been part of.

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Donna Peters's avatar

This is Flashback Friday for me. I love it. I remember the 151-page proposal for a $250k project. After submitting to procurement (version 89, I recall), we realized page 72 at the bottom had a text box that said "Blah Blah Blah, enter some crap here." That's a best practice, for sure.

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Geoffroy's avatar

But make sure there are no double spaces, that is very important.

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Walt Shill's avatar

ahhhhh =- good point - and perhaps random changes in fonts and font sizes.....

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Geoffroy's avatar

Love this!

Love the main thread… « it really is all about us»

I would add that you may also copy paste a ton of slides from vaguely related topics to beef up ´our methodology’ section. And please ensure there is some distant and vague link between the slides, just enough so that the reader wants to try to understand but will still be left really confused and wonder ‘what ?’

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Philip Otley's avatar

Walt, you've made my Friday (again)!

So refreshing to know that I've nailed most of these tips.

Even tried adding "Gratuitous References" and "Spurious Endorsements" sections.

And always delivering it late afternoon on a Friday, so my Client can read at their leisure over the weekend.

Great work...PO

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Walt Shill's avatar

Phil ! Of course - those are great additions - and yes, Friday afternoon delivery is a must - I forgot that one ! Thanks !!

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